Mao Yuchen, Class 4, Senior 2, Shenzhen Foreign Languages School Instructed by Liu Xiaodong

深圳外国语学校高二（4）毛语晨 指导教师 刘晓冬

This is a story about my dogs.

When I was a little girl, I always dreamt of having a puppy. I tried my very best to persuade my mom but my little wish had never come true.

Until that summer in 2016, when I finally graduated from junior high school, a chance showed up.

It was a hot summer day, and it seemed that staying at home playing computer games was the best choice since the high school entrance examination had just ended. However, with a heart filled with hope and joy, I went to the pet shop.

Then I saw him.

Purely white fur with not a single other-colored hair, watery dark eyes glancing over at me, his ears slightly shivered while alertly turning his head.

He was extraordinarily perfect.

He was a Samoyed.

He stood there, in a cage, waiting for me to walk towards him.

And so I did. I patted his head while bending down so that I could have a closer look. He stared at me, put his tongue out, and smiled gently.

I couldn’t help myself from taking out my wallet, so I let myself.

He became a member of our family, and his name was Beary.

I thought he was going to stay with us forever, but apparently no one could stop fate. Beary was diagnosed with canine distemper just after a couple of days with us, and the vet told us he had already been in the incubation period when I bought him home.

He coughed, he fevered, he suffered from diarrhea for four to five days, at last I have to let him go when all possible means had been tried but none of them worked. I had to take Beary down to the vet’s and had him put to sleep, which meant euthanasia.

It was really hard when I had to go back and live on in a place without Beary but full of his smell and memories. For a long long time, I couldn’t help thinking of him and I couldn’t help crying afterwards.

At the end of that summer, we moved to a new home. We finally had a small garden, which seemed comfortable for my Beary to play in when the sun shined gently.

When I first came here and thought of him, I always cried. However as the days went on, I started to smile.

It was not simply because time could remove everything, and it was absolutely not because I finally forgot him, but because I have learnt to feel relieved.

After about two years, I finally realized that for us human it may be hard to accept such a tragic ending, but as for Beary the dog, his whole life had a finally happy ending with no pity but full of love and warmth.

Now there’s a new puppy in our family and her name is Pea.

She was a 26-day puppy when I first saw her. I adopted her from a kind man whose female dog had just given birth to 10 puppies, and hoped every puppy could have a happy life.

Now she is chasing her tail happily in my garden, licking my hand when feeling joyful.

Though she’s neither a noble dog nor a pure dog, I will play with her, cherish every moment I spend with her, and give her all my love, including the very part which I wasn’t able to give Beary.

If my Beary taught me how to appreciate, then my little Pea teaches me how to love.

Time will go on. Beary has left us, and so will Pea in the future. Nothing can be done to stop death from coming, but somehow love is eternal. It’s high above time and far beyond fate; it gives us warm and courage to move on, to expect the brand new day with a smile.